Two books printed in Venice in 1601-1602, bound together:

• Sefer Charedim, on the 613 mitzvot and on topics pertaining to mitzvot and repentance, by the kabbalist R. Elazar Azikri of Safed. Venice: Daniel Zanetti, 1601. First edition.
The author of Sefer Charedim, R. Elazar Azikri, was a leading rabbi and preacher in Safed in the period of the Beit Yosef and the Arizal, and author of the famous piyyut Yedid Nefesh. Studied Torah under R. Yosef Sagis and was ordained by Rabbi Yaakov Beirav. His Sefer Charedim has been published in dozens of editions [some omitting passages extant in the present first edition], and it is one of the basic ethical books, much treasured by Tzaddikim and Chassidic masters.
Ownership inscription with signature by "Yitzchak Abulafia") we were unable to identify his place in the Abulafia family). Additional inscriptions on title page of the "Beit Midrash of the Magen" [apparently Beit Yaakov run by R. Moshe Galante (the Magen)]; dedicatory inscription mentioning "Shemaiah Angel" (Shemaiah Angel, banker and important member of the Damascus community).
Ownership inscription in center of title page: "Purchased by me for the service of my Maker, Gershom Carmona[?]". Many marginal glosses in Sephardic script, some lengthy (most apparently in the same handwriting as the above signature).

Bound with:

• Likutei Shoshanim, selected comments on the Book of Yehoshua and Neviim Acharonim. Venice: Daniel Zanetti, [1602]. First edition.

Published by R. David ibn Hin of Thessaloniki. Includes commentary on Yehoshua by R. Yaakov Beirav; on Yeshayahu, Yirmiyahu, Yechezkel and Hoshea, evidently by R. Meir Arama; on Yonah, Chavakuk and Zechariah by R. Ovadiah Sforno; and on Malachi by the proofreader of the book, R. Yitzchak Gershon (who also added to the commentary on Yeshayah). Also includes commentary on Trei Asar (Hoshea, Ovadiah, Yonah and Michah) by R. Shmuel Almosnino.
Ownership inscriptions and signatures on title page and leaf 2.

Two books in one volume. Sefer Charedim: 76 leaves. Missing last 6 leaves (77-81, [1]). Likutei Shoshanim: 20 leaves. 19.5 cm. Fair condition. Many stains, including dark stains and damp stains (particularly to second book). Wear. Tears and worming to margins of several leaves, partially repaired with paper. Loose and detached leaves and gatherings. Early leather binding, damaged and detached, without spine.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Urim VeTumim, commentary on Yeshayahu and Yirmiyahu by R. Meir Aramah (son of the Akedat Yitzchak). Venice: Daniel Zanetti, [1603]. First edition.
Ownership inscription on title page of "Yaakov Buzaglo" (in Hebrew); additional signature in Latin characters: "Jakob Buzaglo".
On p. 2a, autobiographical account by publisher, R. Menachem Yaakov son of R. Eliezer Yehudah of Safed.

75 leaves. Missing last leaf (with end of index). 17.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including light dampstains. Tears affecting text of several leaves, without loss. Small open tear to one leaf, slightly affecting text. Close trimming, affecting headers of leaves in several places. New binding.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat, with the Me'irat Einayim commentary (Sma). Prague: Moshe son of Yosef Betzalel Katz, 1628. Second edition of the Sma.
Numerous glosses in Ashkenazic script in the margins, from close to the time of printing (ca. 17th century). The writer frequently cites "Mahari"s" [= R. Joel Sirkis, author of the Bach], sometimes adding to his words.
In folios 68-69, appear inscriptions in later handwriting (ca. 18th/19th century) beneath three of the glosses: "From the holy Maggid R. David of Stepan", "From the Maggid of Stepan", "From the Maggid of St[epan]". The significance of these inscriptions is unclear. The holy Maggid R. David of Stepan ("Der Stepiner Maggid"; d. 1811) was a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid of Mezeritch.
Ownership inscriptions: on leaf 4b: "Yehuda Leib Frenkel"[?], at the top of leaf 194a: "Yehuda Leib son of Yekutiel". On the last page: "So says Avraham son of R. Madil Segal" [possibly R. Avraham son of R. Madil Segal of Oettingen, author of "Ma'arechet Avraham" (Fürth, 1769), see: Assaf, Sources for the History of Jewish Education in Israel, new edition edited by Shmuel Glick, vol. I, Jerusalem and New York, 2001, p. 404).

3-320; 20 leaves. Lacking title page and following leaf. 32 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains and wear. Tears and open tears to several leaves, affecting text, repaired with paper. Many glosses slightly trimmed. Stamps. New binding.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Shulchan Tahor, summary of year-round halachot based on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah, by R. David Pardo and his father R. Yosef Pardo. Amsterdam: Uri Levi, 1686. First edition.
Pocket format.
Author's introduction and summary of Hebrew approbations also printed in Portuguese (in Latin characters).
This book was reprinted in many editions.

[10], 96 leaves. 10 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Light wear. Small marginal open tears to title page and other leaves (tears on title page repaired with paper filling). Worming in one place on first leaves. New leather binding.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Responsa Tashbetz, three parts, by Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran. With the Responsa Chut HaMeshulash, by the author's grandchildren. Amsterdam: Naftali Hertz Levi Press, [1738-1739]. First edition. With seven title pages.
It is said about the author, Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran, that he was fortunate to have his book printed in a beautiful edition and bound in beautiful and ornate bindings – "because he was careful to spread a beautiful, fine, and important cloth over the books that were open before him to study from" (Rabbi Yitzchak Palagi, Yafeh LaLev, III, Yoreh De'ah, Siman 277, Section 3). Other legends relate that he Rashbatz greatly respected his books and cleaned them every day with a silk cloth (see: S.Y. Agnon, Sefer Sofer VeSippur, p. 152, based on the story of R. Eliezerov, in the name of the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch; N. Ben Menachem, Gvilei Sefarim, pp. 11-12, based on the story of R. Zevin, in the name of the Rashab).
The present copy is bound in an original and special parchment binding, with artistic gilt embossing of the figure of Moses descending from the mountain with the Tablets of the Covenant in one hand and the staff in his right hand (on the front cover), and the figure of Abraham raising the knife to slaughter his son Isaac and an angel preventing him (on the back cover).
Interestingly, all the copies with the original bindings were made at the time by artistic handwork, with beautiful decorations and embossings, and no two copies are identical. Most of the original bindings were made of fine parchment, or a combination of leather and parchment (which some book collectors named "fish skin" bindings).

Important copy which belonged to several rabbis of Germany in the 18th century. On the front flyleaf are erased ownership inscriptions, including the inscription: "…Naphtali Hirsch… Katznelbogen."

R. Naphtali Hirsch Katznelbogen, Rabbi of the state of Pforzheim and head of the "Kloiz" in Mannheim (d. 1800), one of the greatest of his generation in Ashkenaz. Son of rabbi Moshe Katznelbogen, Rabbi of the state of Schwabach, and son-in-law of R. Yaakov Cohen Poppers, author of the "Shav Yaakov." He served as the rabbi of Mergentheim and in 1763 was appointed as the Rabbi of the state of Palatinate. He was one of the leading rabbis who supported rabbi Israel Lipschitz in the case of the "Get of Cleves". He moved to Mannheim and taught Torah in the Kloiz there for over thirty years, until his death in 1800. His nephew is Rabbi Naphtali Hirsch Katznelbogen, author of "Sha'ar Naphtali".
Ownership inscriptions on the first two title pages of the dayan Rabbi Yaakov Posen from Frankfurt am Main; In the center of the first title page appears another signature, by "Nataniel Bonn[?]."

Rabbi Yaakov Posen (1772-1849), dayan in Frankfurt am Main, who served in the court of the author of the "Haflaah" and his son, the author of "Machane Levi". His father, Rabbi Yekutiel Zalman Posen, was Rabbi of Offenbach, Fulda, and Friedberg (c. 1720-1793; in his youth, he moved from Posen to Germany to study with the "Shav Yaakov" and the "Pnei Yehoshua"). At the funeral of rabbi Yaakov Posen, the community committee of Frankfurt intervened and refused to allow the rabbis who fought against reform to eulogize him in the cemetery. As a result, the independent Orthodox community of rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch was established in the city. His son was Rabbi Eliezer Posen, rabbi of the Kloiz community in Frankfurt am Main (1803-1866), and his grandson was rabbi Gershon Posen, who served as a dayan in Frankfurt for some fifty years.

[12], 91; [1], 69; [1], 68; [1], 36; [2], 39-83; [1], 85-101, [1] leaves. Missing [1] final leaf from the second part, without the list of books by the author of the Tashbetz. 31.5 cm. Overall condition good. Stains. Worming in several places. Original, luxurious parchment binding, decorated with beautiful, colorful, gilt decorations, in artisanal work. Worming and defects to binding.
Several variants of this edition are known, differing in the number of title pages. Copies are known with only four title pages, or with seven and even eight title pages (see: Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, and see: Dan and Gita Yardeni, The "Tashbez" by R. Shimon b. Zemah Duran; Amsterdam, 1739-1742 (Hebrew), Alei Sefer, X, 1982, pp. 119-132).
The present copy includes seven title pages, two title pages for the first part (both dated 1738), one title page for the second part, one title page for the third part, and three title pages for the three "Turim" of the fourth part.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.